Erosion: Sediment

Erosion: Sediment run-off from badly-made logging roads pollutes waterways, making drinking water turbid and unsafe and exacerbating health problems in communities downstream (photos ACF/CELCOR) Rights, wrongs and reform The case studies above illuminate the myriad ways in which the human rights of landowners in PNG are being undermined by large scale logging. It is not as though Papuan New Guinean’s rights are not protected by law. The problem is more that the capacity and political will to uphold and defend those rights has been weakened and undermined by powerful forces. A key issue is that forestry activities take place almost exclusively in remote areas, making effective monitoring of logging activities difficult. Isolation creates an atmosphere in which human rights violations are allowed to thrive. On the occasions when violations are reported, the remoteness of logging camps and concession areas makes investigating allegations of abuse extremely difficult. The role played by the police provides another complicating layer to the picture with repeated allegations that some police officers earn extra money ‘moonlighting’ as private security for logging companies in remote areas. All these problems are exacerbated by a legal system that is over loaded, under-resourced and expensive for grassroots Papua New Guineans to access. While the complaints handling body established by PNG’s Constitution, the Ombudsman Commission, has recently set up a human rights unit, it is small and severely under-resourced. These difficulties are compounded by the broader climate of corruption that contributes to the under-reporting of human rights abuses. 20 BULLDOZING PROGRESS

3 PROSPECTS FOR REFORM “It would be fair to say, of some of the [logging] companies, that they are now roaming the countryside with the selfassurance of robber barons; bribing politicians and leaders, creating social disharmony and ignoring laws in order to gain access to, rip out, and export the last remnants of … valuable timber” – Justice Barnett’s Commission of Inquiry into Forestry Matters, 1989 Background to reform efforts In the late ’80s a Commission of Inquiry into aspects of the timber industry in PNG, chaired by Australian judge Tos Barnett, revealed a logging industry plagued by pervasive corruption, bribery, non-compliance with regulations, extensive violations of landowners’ rights and extreme environmental destruction. 91 Following the Barnett Inquiry the Government of PNG, with assistance from Australia and the World Bank, instituted a range of reforms in the forestry sector with the aim of creating better state control over the industry. The World Bank organised a Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP) for the PNG Government in 1989 and was involved in several other abortive attempts to regulate logging in the 1990s. All the World Bank’s loan schemes were aiming to improve the policy and institutional environment in the forestry sector. In 1991 a new Forestry Act was unveiled. A new National Forest Policy followed. Both explicitly emphasised sustainable yield management and incorporated the concepts of environmental conservation and protection, the decentralisation of decisionmaking and full recognition of people’s rights to their natural heritage. Under the National Forest Policy and Forestry Act the State reserves the right to enter into forest management agreements with landowner groups. The government buys timber rights from landowners that it can then sell to logging companies as licences to extract timber. The procedure for identifying customary resource owners is through the Land Groups Incorporation Act 1974, giving landowners a legal identity. Following the ILG process, a Forest Management Agreement can be signed between the Incorporated Land Group and the PNG Forestry Authority, acting on behalf of the State. A logging code of practice was introduced in 1997. The code of practice aims to provide ‘practical guidance’ to reduce the adverse impact of logging on forests and the communities living in them. The code prohibits logging on steep slopes, permanently inundated land, limestone country and mangrove areas and sets standards for the protection of watercourses and coastlines. 92 In theory, the loans provided by the World Bank were designed to establish a system and structure to facilitate more sustainable logging and improve PNG’s revenue stream. But its effectiveness is questionable. The World Bank’s own evaluation revealed that in 1998, the government reduced log export duties and the Forest Authority set up through the reform program was progressively marginalised. Large extensions to existing concessions were considered, and procedures for granting new concessions circumvented. Financial support to the forest service was withheld, its staff re-shuffled, and preparations were made to weaken the Forestry Act. In 1999 Sir Mekere Morauta became Prime Minister, promising a new era of good governance. The World Bank embarked on another reform program through the $90 million Governance Promotion Adjustment Loan (GPAL). Under this loan, the Government was obliged to implement a wide range of measures including several conditions related to the forestry sector. These conditions included a moratorium on new logging permits until an independent review of proposed logging concessions was completed and the Government had an action plan to implement the recommendations. 94 The Independent Review of Proposed Logging Concessions was conducted by a team appointed by the World Bank and funded by the Australian Government through AusAID. The review team studied 30 proposed new forestry concessions and two existing logging operations. 95 The team found four proposed concessions were already being illegally logged and attempts had been made to illegally grant permission for logging in at least another 11 areas. The review team found much evidence the logging industry was continuing to operate without effective administrative control, including: 96 • attempts by logging companies to circumvent the Forestry Act by gaining extensions to existing contracts; • attempts to develop projects that did not appear in the National Forest Plan; • breaches of the Forestry Act; and • failure to follow due process. On the issue of landowner rights the review team uncovered a range of problems, including forestry developments that went ahead without landowners giving their informed consent as required under the Forestry Act. The review was another damning indictment of the state of forest administration in PNG and again raised concerns about the sustainability of logging and the improper influence of the logging industry on government officials and politicians. The Government struggled to meet many of the GPAL loan conditions. Conditions were subsequently watered down and for the duration of the GPAL illegal logging activities continued unabated. One of the scandals involved a foreign-owned logging operation, Concord Pacific, which had exported more than $36 million of logs from communally-owned forest in the Kiunga-Aiambak area in Western Province. In 1995, the project was declared illegal by forest authorities. Despite complaints from the Independent Forestry Review, the Chair of the National Forest Board, the Forest Industries Association and even the then Prime Minister Mekere Morauta, no effective action was taken against the company. The illegal operation continued throughout the duration of the GPAL. Indeed, the project was allowed to expand through a series of permit extensions. In December 2001 the company was given a new and larger timber permit, allowing it to log along an 831-kilometre corridor with a total area of 2.7 million hectares. 97 The National Court later determined this permit to have been invalid. 98 It was only following pressure from NGOs and the lodgement of an Inspection Panel 99 claim by CELCOR to the World Bank that the project was finally shut down. The PNG Government did not fulfil its obligations under the GPAL. Several illegal logging operations commenced during the moratorium on new logging permits, which was lifted prematurely by the PNG Government. Despite protests from NGOs and the lodgement of the Inspection Panel claim urging the Bank not to provide further loans to the Government of PNG, the Bank approved a new US$17 million loan for a Forestry and BULLDOZING PROGRESS 21